The Idea of Villa Castagna
A garden is both a real place, and a cloud of possibilities. What you will find here will be both something real, and something that may or may not become real. For this reason you will find no map: Instead you will meet fragments, part real, part possible.
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Garryea elliptica over the Clough Williams-Ellis seat.Evening light on bare-leafed chestnut trees.Luckily during the big storm we had the painter JMW Turner staying with us. At the storm’s height he went out, lashed himself to a tree, and painted this. He calls it ‘Storm Scene: Hannibal crossing Wombat Hill’.Evening light.Tulip tree and ignem ne gladio fodias fenceAutumn leaves. Rowan and silver birch.
Category Archives: Art
On Historical Chinoiserie and the Repertory of Oiserie
The challenge of Oiserie is that there are no rules: it is a field for invention. But its starting point is seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Chinoiserie. Compared to Rococo, there are many more components in Chinoiserie. The Rococo relies on a … Continue reading →
Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Art, Baroque architecture, Chinoiserie, Oiserie, Uncategorized
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Fabriques in Paintings 1: Sebastian Vrancx. Part C. The Figures.
This series of posts (A-C) discusses depictions of small buildings that I feel inclined to appropriate to the category of fabriques. Images by the author unless otherwise stated. Sebastian Vrancx’s An Elegant Company Dining Outdoors, c. 1610–1620 in the Museum … Continue reading →
Fabriques in Paintings 1: Sebastian Vrancx. Part B. The Setting and Architecture
This series of posts (A-C) discusses depictions of small buildings that I feel inclined to appropriate to the category of fabriques. They work outwards from the fabrique to the image as a whole, as required. Images by the author unless … Continue reading →
Fabriques in Paintings 1: Sebastian Vrancx. Part A. The Trelliswork Fabrique on the Terrace
This series of posts (A-C) discusses depictions of small buildings that I feel inclined to appropriate to the category of fabriques. They work outwards from the fabrique to the image as a whole, as required. Images by the author unless … Continue reading →
Posted in All Posts, Architectural paintings, Architecture, Art, Baroque architecture, Baroque Gardens, Fabriques, Garden History, Uncategorized, Villas
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Tagged Vrancx
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Jemima Grey’s Chinoiserie Fabrique at Wrest Park. Part 4. The Chinese Bridges
There was also, it seems, a Chinese bridge that went with the ‘house’ or temple. I can’t seem to find any primary sources for this. This is long gone. There is today a Chinese bridge nearby made of brick and … Continue reading →
Posted in All Posts, Architecture, Art, Baroque architecture, Baroque Gardens, Construction, Country Houses, English Gardens, Fabriques, Garden History, Menu, Restoration and Conservation, Uncategorized
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Tagged bridges, Chinoiserie, eighteenth-century garden buildings, Fabriques, follies, jemima grey, wrest park
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Jemima Grey’s Chinoiserie Fabrique at Wrest Park. Part 3. Chinese Elements, Function, Typology and Sources
Chinese Elements There is not much Chinese about the fabrique. It has a dragon on the pinnacle, which was easy to miss in 2013 (Fig. 4), but must be much more conspicuous now that it has been gilded (Fig. 13). … Continue reading →
Jemima Grey’s Chinoiserie Fabrique at Wrest Park, Part 1. History
Wrest Park has an interesting Chinoiserie fabrique (Fig. 1) which is of interest because it has recently been restored (not for the first time) which allows us to come to grips with the structure. I examined it in June 2013 … Continue reading →
The Elusive Patronage of George Gordon, Lord Haddo: Giovanni Paolo Panini and Pompeo Batoni
A Panini with a Haddo provenance that comes up at Christie’s, New York, in May prompts some reflections on the elusive patronage of George Gordon, Lord Haddo, who died in 1791 in a fall from a horse. He is generally agreed to be the subject of a portrait by Pompeo Batoni at Haddo House, and it is assumed that he is the member of his family who acquired two Paninis, the one at Christie’s and another now in the Liechtenstein collection in Vienna. Continue reading →
What is the Baroque?
What is the Baroque? Is it a period, a style, a civilisation, or a critical concept? It is all of these. ‘Baroque’ was a term that came into use in the eighteenth century as a negative descriptor of the style … Continue reading →
Posted in All Posts, Architectural paintings, Architecture, Art, Baroque architecture, Baroque Gardens, Book Commentaries, Uncategorized
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Tagged Baroque Gardens
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On Recent Proposals for Rebuilding the Roof and Spire of Notre Dame
Within a month of the destruction by fire of the roof and flèche (crossing spire) of Notre Dame in Paris, proposals by architects for their replacement abound. Why are these designs so awful? The answer is simple: they lack respect. … Continue reading →